ai4bharat/Pralekha huggingface dataset:
Ministry of Coal
Coal India Limited and Railways jointly succeed in loading 250 coal rakes on 14th November, 2017 which is an all time high achievement for the month of November.
The synergetic efforts of CIL and Railways with close monitoring by the Ministries of Coal, Railways and Power have resulted in this unprecedented growth in coal off-take and improved despatch for power sector in particular.
CIL and Railways are now aiming for loading of 266 coal rakes/day.
The growth in coal despatch to power sector in the last three months came as a big help for coal based power plants despite the drop in generation from hydro, nuclear as well as imported coal based plants.
In a major achievement, the synergetic efforts of Coal India Limited  and Railways with close monitoring by the Ministries of Coal, Railways and Power have resulted in unprecedented growth in coal off-take and improved despatch of coal for power sector in particular. Strengthening coal transportation and coal production effectively, Coal India Limited loaded 250 rakes of goods train through Indian Railways system on 14 November 2017, an all time high achievement for the month of November to ensure smooth coal supply. Out of these rakes, 223 rakes were exclusively loaded for thermal power stations across the country.
Achieving a loading of 250 rakes in a day in the month of November has set a new record. This achievement has been in spite of the continuation of sporadic rains in some of the coalfields. Normally, loading at such levels is attained from late December when the onset of favourable environment helps in ramping up coal production.
CIL and Railways are now jointly working on a strategy to enhance loading target to 266 coal rakes per-day which will further help both power and non-power sector in meeting their demands for coal.
The growth in coal despatch to power sector in August, September and October of the current Fiscal has been 20%, 21% and 18% respectively as compared to the same period in the previous fiscal year. This has helped coal based power plants in meeting the spurt in demand of festive and paddy season, despite the drop in generation from hydro, nuclear as well as imported coal based plants.
CIL is poised to contribute load of 300 rakes through Indian Railways which includes about 35 rakes for coal beneficiation and coal lifted through road for loading from Goods Shed sidings of Indian Railways.
Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution
BIS Launches ‘Learning Science via Standards’ Series
The Bureau of Indian Standards , the National Standards Body of India has announced the launch of ‘Learning Science via Standards’, a unique initiative for students for learning science via standards.
The ‘Learning Science via Standards’ initiative focuses on a series of lesson plans aimed to use scientific concepts, principles and laws to help students understand their practical applications in manufacturing, functioning and testing of quality characteristics of different products as stated in the relevant Indian Standards. The subjects for the lesson plans are largely related to products used in day-to-day life and have been chosen based on their relevance to education as part of the course curriculum as well as to industrial applications. BIS officials and resource personnel will transact the lesson plans to the students for an interactive learning experience. These lesson plans will also be hosted on the BIS website.
Further, the lesson plans would also serve as a means for the students of schools and colleges to appreciate the significance of quality and standards and empower them to boldly face the real life situations in any of their future endeavours. This is notable that, the ‘Learning Science via Standards’ series is in continuum with an earlier BIS initiative under which ‘Standards Clubs’ are being established in educational institutions across India. Over 4200 such Clubs have already been formed with over one lakh student members. To initiate the activities under these Clubs, more than 3400 science teachers have been trained to act as Mentors.
‘Standards Clubs’ undertake student-centric activities like debates, quiz and competitions, including standards-writing competitions. Students are also taken for exposure visits to industries and laboratories for witnessing the various manufacturing and testing processes as well as BIS offices which have been developed as learning spaces. BIS provides financial support to these Clubs for undertaking up to three activities in a year.
Commenting on this initiative, the Director-General of BIS, Shri Pramod Kumar Tiwari, said, "The ‘Learning Science via Standards’ initiative is a step towards bridging the gap between theory and real life use of science education. It will enable students to relate the concepts of science to their actual applications and also promote a culture of quality and standardization in the country."
The ‘Learning Science via Standards’ initiative is expected to benefit a wide range of students, including those in schools, colleges, and technical institutions. It will also contribute towards their capacity building to engage successfully in a variety of economic sectors in the country.
More information on this initiative is available on BIS website.
Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers
The ceiling price of orthopaedic knee implants to be monitored such that the price increase of knee implants does not increase beyond 10% in a given year.
The NPPA notified the ceiling price of orthopaedic knee implants on 16th August, 2017 by invoking extraordinary powers, in public interest, under Para 19 of Drugs Prices Control Order  2013, for a period of one year. Subsequently, vide notification dated 13th August, 2018, the applicability of ceiling prices fixed for orthopaedic knee implants was extended for another one year, up to 15th August, 2019.
Accordingly, the cost of knee implants was reduced significantly, upto 69%, resulting in a notional saving of Rs.1500 crore per annum to the consumers.
The NPPA, in its meeting held on 8th Aug, 2019, reviewed the matter. It was noted that there has been an increased access due to knee implants becoming affordable. As per the data submitted by manufacturers and importers, an increase of 30% in the sales of knee implants has been reported during the period of July, 2018 to June, 2019.
The knee implant is a non-scheduled medical device / drug for which DPCO, 2013 allows an annual increase upto 10% of MRP. However, this was not permitted in 2018.
Though the industry has requested for a 20%  increase in the price of knee implants, it was decided to further monitor the price increase of knee implants as per para 20 of the DPCO, 2013 that restricts price increase beyond 10% in a given year. This shall be subject to a review after one year.
Ministry of Information & Broadcasting
Prasar Bharati goes paperless with 100% adoption of e-Office
Use of technology has turned the Operations at Prasar Bharati around. It’s no more business as usual, as in less than 2 years, 577 Centers and 22,348 employees of DD, AIR have embraced e-Office operations.
Well established IT-enabled working structure through e-Office at Prasar Bharati came in handy during the pandemic when employees across the country had to work within several limitations during the lockdown and after.
With the vision to make Prasar Bharati operations more efficient and paperless, e-Office was introduced in August 2019. Of 577 Prasar Bharati centers across the country, 10% adopted e-Office in 2019 , 74% in 2020 and the remaining 16% have joined by June 18, 2021.
In what has brought speed and transparency in the working of the organisation, more than 50 thousands e-Files have been created so far, with the status of every file available online. Internally, concerned departments can trace their files, whether it is in movement or parked or closed.
On an average, complete process of clearing one physical file used to take almost a week. Through e-Office, this has been drastically reduced to 24 hours on an average, sometimes even couple of hours.
As a result, the figures on total volume of cleared files over almost last 2 years and average number of files cleared every month during the same period have jumped significantly.
Top 10 Offices within Prasar Bharati  in terms of creating and clearing most e-Files are as following:
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|
Offices
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Total number ofe-Files cleared since August, 2019
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Monthly average of e-Files disposed since August, 2019
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CEO Office
|
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11,186
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|
500+
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|
DG DD Office
|
|
6897
|
|
300+
|
|
DG AIR Office
|
|
5973
|
|
270+
|
|
DG DD News Office
|
|
3872
|
|
170+
|
|
DG AIR News Office
|
|
721
|
|
30+
|
|
Head of Technology
|
|
3351
|
|
150+
|
|
Head of HR
|
|
13,331
|
|
600+
|
|
Head of Admin
|
|
6121
|
|
275+
|
|
Head of Operations
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|
2751
|
|
125+
|
|
Head of Finance
|
|
3533
|
|
160+
This initiative has also made Prasar Bharati operations paperless, saving organisation’s expenditure on paper by 45%between August 2019 and June 2021. Apart from reducing Carbon footprint, paperless work also enhanced the COVID safety during the pandemic through remote working, work from home, etc, thus reducing the chances of infections.
Ministry of Development of North-East Region
Road transport and air traffic in North-Eastern States
As per information available in this Ministry, for road connectivity, road projects under Special Accelerated Road Development Programme for North East  including Arunachal Package for Roads & Highways is being implemented. Under Arunachal Package out of total 2319 km road length worth Rs.15,643.00 crore approved by Government, road length of 1934 km has been sanctioned and out of which 928 km has been completed so far. For air connectivity, Government has laid down route dispersal guidelines with a view to achieve better regulation of air transport services taking into account the need of air transport services of different regions of the country. It is, however, up to the airlines to provide air services to specific places depending upon the traffic demand and commercial viability. As such, the airlines are free to operate anywhere in the country subject to compliance of route dispersal guidelines issued by Government.
New line Capital Connectivity railway projects have been initiated for all the capital cities of North East since 2003-04. Railways has taken many steps in last three years to expedite the execution of these capital connectivity projects and monitoring of projects is being done at various levels . Concept of incentives to the contractor has also been adopted by Railways to enhance the pace of execution of projects. Further, for important projects, capacity enhancement projects, last mile connectivity projects etc., institutional financing has been done by arranging loan of Rs.1.5 lakh crore, which has increased Railways’ capacity for committed fund provision for essential projects.
Among others, M/o Road, Transport and Highways and M/o Railways has incurred Rs.12,215.00 crore under SARDP-NE and Rs.17,048.00 crore respectively in the last three years for improving connectivity infrastructure in North Eastern Region.
This information was provided by the Union Minister of State  Development of North-Eastern Region , MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.
Special Service and Features
Union Ministers Shri Parshotham Rupala and Dr L. Murugan attend various events in Kozhikode and Mahi as part of ‘Sagar Parikrama’ Programme
Will work with the state government for coastal area development, says Shri Parshotham Rupala
Kozhikode: June 09, 2023
As part of the 7th phase of the unique central initiative "Sagar Parikrama", the Union Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Shri Parshotham Rupala and Minister of State Dr L. Murugan attended various events in Mahe and Kozhikode today.
In the morning, the Union Ministers visited Mahi and interacted with the fishermen during an outreach program held at Mahi Civil Station. In the function, Shri Parshotham Rupala said that the Kisan Credit Card scheme implemented by the Central Government in 2019 was a gift to the fishermen by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi as part of the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav celebrations. The Union Ministers also distributed pension under the new pension scheme to 63 people working in the fishing sector. Later, the Ministers reached Mahi Harbor and visited Pulimut  and interacted with the local fishermen.
Then the Union Ministers reached Kozhikode, visited the Beypore fishing harbour and interacted with the fishermen and received petitions from them. State Fisheries and Culture Minister Shri Saji Cherian welcome the Union Minister. As part of the yathra, Shri Parshotham Rupala visited the Coast Guard Station at Beypore also. Later, they interacted and distributed various aids and certificates to the fishermen from the area at a programme held at 'Samudra Auditorium' at Kozhikode beach. Union Minister Shri Rupala said that through the trip he was able to directly interact with the people residing in coastal regions and understand their needs. The Minister added that he would work with the state government for coastal area development.
As part of "Sagar Parikrama", the team participated in various programmes and interacted with the fishermen from Kasaragod yesterday. The Union Ministers will participate in various programmes in Thrissur and Kochi tomorrow.
The Sagar Parikrama programme aims to meet fishermen, fish farmers and beneficiaries of various Government Schemes, and to interact with them to hear directly from them about their issues and suggestions to further uplift the fisheries sector in the country for the benefit of all stakeholders.
(Senior officials from Kerala State, Department of Fisheries, Government of India, National Fisheries Development Board, Indian Coast Guard, Fishery Survey of India and fisherman representatives are taking part in the Sagar Parikrama event from 7th-12th June, 2023.
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
COVID-19 UPDATE
43.51 Cr. Vaccine Doses administered so far under Nationwide Vaccination Drive
3,05,79,106total recoveries across the country so far
Recovery Rate currently at 97.35%
35,968patients recovered during last 24 hours
India reports 39,361new cases in last 24 hours
India's Active Caseload currently at 4,11,189
Active cases constitute 1.31% of total cases
Weekly Positivity Rate remainsbelow5%, currently at 2.31%
Daily positivity rate at 3.41%, remains below 5%
Testing capacity substantially ramped up – 45.74cr tests total conducted
Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions
In post-COVID phase, India’s healthcare infrastructure can receive a major boost, if planned judiciously: Dr Jitendra Singh
Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh today discussed post-COVID healthcare with top professionals of India, drawn from medical fraternity, corporate hospital sector, leading research bodies and medical economists.
In a one-and-half hour long video conference meeting, prominent among those who offered their inputs included Dr V. Mohan, internationally renowned Diabetologist from Chennai, Dr NareshTrehan CMD Medanta, Dr Devi Shetty Chairman Narayana Health Bengaluru, Dr Sangeeta Reddy Joint MD Apollo Hospitals, Kiran Majumdar Shaw CMD Biocon Bengaluru, Dr Shekhar Mande DG CSIR New Delhi, Dr D. Sundararaman from Puducherry, Dr Shakti Gupta from AIIMS New Delhi, Dr Rathin Roy Director NIPFP New Delhi, Professor K. Srinath Reddy President DHFI New Delhi and Dr Yogesh Jain from Chhattisgarh.
In his opening remarks, Dr Jitendra Singh said that having dealt with the first phase of COVID pandemic with exemplary diligence and professionalism, time has come for India to plan for the post-COVID phase and to strategize how best this adversity can be converted into an opportunity to reinforce our healthcare infrastructure to meet the future needs. He said, if planned judiciously with insight, this could be an opportunity to develop India's future healthcare infrastructure not only of world class standard but also as a major contributor to the country’s economy.
Dr Jitendra Singh said, another concern of the medical fraternity is that while we discharge our responsibility to conquer the COVID challenge, we should not be inadvertently neglecting the non-COVID patients, including those suffering from non-communicable diseases like Diabetes Mellitus, heart disease and cancer, which continue to have high mortality rate despite the presence of COVID and at the same time also contribute to mortality in the COVID patients by way of being a co-morbidity.
Even after the lockdown is over, Dr Jitendra Singh said, the battle against COVID may continue and may call for a large scale or mass screening of the population. The liability of doing this will also have to be weighed in the light of any future planning for health care, he added.
During the discussion, there was emphasis on the need for high level of surveillance and classification of COVID cases depending upon severity. The psychological fall-out of it also came up for discussion.
While discussing the economy, the opinion was that in any future planning, the health sector should be given much higher priority so that it becomes a major component of India's economy. At the same time, the Manufacturing and Pharma sector in India should be given impetus particularly at a time when most of the countries of the world will prefer to do business with India. Other suggestions put forward included various options to give financial stimulus to the existing health sector.
Preventive health care,including in case of non-COVID conditions like non-communicable diseases, was also discussed in detail.
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Prime Minister's Office
PM pays homage to martyrs of 2001 Parliament attack
The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has paid homage to those who were martyred during the 2001 Parliament attack.
In a tweet, the Prime Minister said;
"Paid homage to those who were martyred during the 2001 Parliament attack. We will never forget their service, bravery and sacrifice."
Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change
Management of Plastic And Other Non-Biodegradable Material
The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change notified the Guidelines on the Extended Producer Responsibility for plastic packaging on 16th February, 2022. The enforceable prescription of targets.under the EPR Guidelines,on the reuse of rigid plastic packaging and use of recycled plastic content in plastic packaging will reduce the use virgin plastic material in packaging across sectors. Further, the EPR guidelines promote development of plastic packaging which can completely biodegrade in the ambient environment subject to conditions and certified by regulatory entities.
The prohibition of identified single use plastic items will also reduce the use plastic material in different sectors. As per the Plastic Waste Management  Rules, 2016, there is a complete ban on sachets using plastic material used for storing, packing or selling gutkha, tobacco and pan masala. The Ministry has also notified the Plastic Waste Management Amendment Rules, 2021, on 12th August 2021, prohibiting manufacture, import, stocking, distribution, sale and use of the identified single use plastic items, which have low utility and high littering potential with effect from the 1st July, 2022.
The local authorities are mandated for collection, processing and disposal of solid waste including non-biodegradable waste and plastic waste,as per Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016 and Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016. Under Swachh Bharat Mission, additional Central Assistance is provided to States and Union territories for solid waste management including plastic waste management. Further, the Guidelines for Extended Producer Responsibility on plastic packaging mandate producers, importers and brand owners for environmentally sound management of plastic packaging waste covered under the guidelines.
The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has been taking measures for awareness generation for elimination of identified single use plastics. A series of awareness programmeshad been organized to avoid the use of single-use plastics across the country, as part of Iconic Week celebrations from 4th to 10th October, 2021, under Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav. A separate Awareness Campaign on Single Use Plastic was also organized in 2021. Four regional events were organized under the Awareness Campaign. In order to spread awareness amongst school students in the country, a pan India essay writing competition has also been organized.
This information was given by the Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Shri Ashwini Kumar Choubey in a written reply in Rajya Sabha, today.
Special Service and Features
Sea ranching of the green tiger shrimp under PMMSY
A total of 3.2 million green tiger shrimp seeds  were sea ranched at Maraikayarpattinam  on 08th February, 2023 under the Project entitled "Sea ranching of Green tiger shrimp  Post Larvae  in Palk Bay and Gulf of Mannar, Tamil Nadu" funded by Department of Fisheries, Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Govt. of India under the Central Sector Scheme component of the PMMSY. The shrimp seeds were released by the staff of the Mandapam Regional Centre in presence of Dr. G. Tamilmani, Head-in-Charge& Principal Investigator of the project. A total of 47.24 million green tiger shrimp seeds were sea ranched in Palk Bay and Gulf of Mannar since the inception of the Project . The sea ranching programme was coordinated by Dr. B. Johnson, Senior Scientist of the Centre.
Ministry of Corporate Affairs
IBBI, SEBI sign MoU for better implementation of IBC
The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India  signed a Memorandum of Understanding  today with the Securities and Exchange Board of India .
The IBBI and the SEBI seek effective implementation of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016  and its allied rules and regulations, which have redefined the debt-equity relationship and aims to promote entrepreneurship and debt market. They have agreed under the MoU to assist and co-operate with each other for the effective implementation of the Code, subject to limitations imposed by the applicable laws.
The MoU provides for:
 sharing of information between the two parties, subject to the limitations imposed by the applicable laws;
 sharing of resources available with each other to the extent feasible and legally permissible;
 periodic meetings to discuss matters of mutual interest, including regulatory requirements that impact each party's responsibilities, enforcement cases, research and data analysis, information technology and data sharing, or any other matter that the parties believe would be of interest to each other in fulfilling their respective statutory obligations;
 cross-training of staff in order to enhance each party's understanding of the other's mission for effective utilisation of collective resources;
 capacity building of insolvency professionals and financial creditors;
 joint efforts towards enhancing the level of awareness among financial creditors about the importance and necessity of swift insolvency resolution process of various types of borrowers in distress under the provisions of the Code, etc.
The MoU was signed by Shri Anand Baiwar, Executive Director, SEBI, and Shri Ritesh Kavdia, Executive Director, IBBI, at Mumbai.